Members of the FBI knock on doors of neighbors of a home (out of frame) associated with the suspected White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter in Torrance, California, Sunday. Investigators said the gunman who tried to storm a gala dinner attended by U.S. President Donald Trump planned to target top government officials, as scrutiny grew over the event's security. Multiple U.S. news outlets have identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from Torrance, California, the southwestern Los Angeles suburb. AFP-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — The man accused in the shooting at a media gala attended by Donald Trump this weekend was arraigned in court Monday on charges of trying to assassinate the president and two firearms crimes.
Cole Allen, 31, faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted of attempting to kill Trump during the incident on Saturday at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in Washington.
Allen, who wore a blue jumpsuit, did not enter a plea at the hearing in a federal court in the U.S. capital. He was held pending his next court appearance.
Prosecutors told the court that Allen was carrying a pump-action shotgun, a semi-automatic pistol and three knives when he tried to break through security at the Hilton hotel, where the annual WHCA dinner has taken place for decades.
Several shots were fired before he was subdued in a chaotic encounter near a checkpoint. Cole never got close to Trump or the other guests attending the large-scale dinner event on a lower floor.
Administration officials say the California man's attack was the third attempt on 79-year-old Trump's life in two years.
The White House has blamed a "left-wing cult of hatred" for inciting violence, singling out Democratic politicians who have accused Trump of trying to amass authoritarian powers.
Trump himself routinely breaks precedent with insults against opponents, the media, judges, foreign leaders and the head of the central bank.
On Saturday, Trump was rushed out of the venue by Secret Service agents after the sound of gunshots erupted.
Source: Korea Times News
